Grandma was fun. She saw the ocean for the first time at age 75 and New York City at 85. She laughed all the time and never worried about anything but her children. She spoke her mind, read the National Enquirer and watched C-SPAN, told off all her doctors, and made sure that every one of her grandchildren knew that she thought they were the greatest.

She gave everyone a little present every year for Christmas - a hat or an umbrella or a candy dish or monogrammed towel. For a long time, she sent me a dollar every year for my birthday, even after I was a lawyer, with a note remembering how happy she was when she heard I was born and how proud she was that I was her grandson.